Othering Finland in Japan: Representation of Aki Kaurismäki's Films in Reviews in Japanese Magazines

How are Aki Kaurismäki’s films interpreted in Japan, and how are these representations involved with the construction of Finnishness in Japan? This doctoral dissertation is about the othering of Finland in Japan via media representation.

The wholesomeness of Finland’s social institutions has been a focus of Japanese interest since the 1960s. Since around 2003, the Japanese media have used the term Finrando būmu (Finnish cultural boom or Finland boom) in reference to their representations of Finland. This term describes the growing interest in Finland and implies that Finland deserves attention because it is a ‘fascinating’ country. Whereas previous research on the idea of Finnishness in Japan has mainly focused on the period during and after the Finland boom, this study focuses on the period before the Finland boom as well, particularly by examining representations of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s films in Japanese magazines.

This research examines how the idea of otherness, such as Kaurismäkiness and Finnishness, is constructed, produced, articulated and circulated in contrast to the idea of Japaneseness in reviews of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s films in Japanese magazines. The study also addresses how film reviews in Japanese magazines – not only cinematic magazines but also general and popular magazines – involve the construction of otherness. In addition, it contributes an empirical analysis of how Kaurismäki’s films have been interpreted in Japan.

The main research question of the study is as follows: How are representations of Kaurismäki’s films articulated and used to construct Finnishness and Japaneseness in reviews in Japanese magazines? The targeted material of the research is review texts of Kaurismäki’s films in Japanese magazines issued from 1990 to 2008. The study employs the interpretative qualitative content analysis also known as representation analysis. Representation, which is based on the constructionist approach in this study, refers to practices and processes of constructing, producing, articulating and circulating meanings in media space in order to frame and understand the world.

The empirical analysis demonstrates that interpretations of Kaurismäki’s films in Japanese reviews can be divided into two temporal phases: (1) from 1990 to 2003 and (2) after 2003. This division is related to the Finland boom media trend, changes in the Japanese film industry and the increase in international attention to Kaurismäki’s films. The analysis demonstrates that the idea of Kaurismäkiness is constructed via an ‘us’ versus ‘them’ dichotomy, and the meanings of Kaurismäkiness and Finnishness are flexibly transformed: they are split off and sometimes articulated as intertwined with each other, depending on the context. During the first phase, Kaurismäki’s films were interpreted as legitimising the collectively shared imagination of what was referred to as the ‘essence of Japanese culture’. Kaurismäkiness is abstracted from the Finnish context and is instead associated with the Japanese context and constructed as resonant with Japaneseness. Finland is represented as a remote country or as a periphery in Europe producing an eccentric film director whose cinematic style is not yet sophisticated. During the second phase, the reviews created a metonymic link between Kaurismäki’s films and Finland, and the films were interpreted as accurate representations of Finland. At the same time, the idea of Finnishness was also articulated to identify similarities between Finland and Japan. The analysis demonstrates that this practice of representation corresponded to a market demand in the context of the Finland boom in which Finland is represented, on the one hand, as a fascinating country, and on the other hand as Japan’s reachable and attainable Other.

The empirical analysis also highlights that the idea of otherness works flexibly as a mediating bridge between the Other and the Self and produces a polysemy of meanings depending on the context. The processes of creating the idea of Japaneseness confirms the Self, and the ideas of Kaurismäkiness and Finnishness are flexibly transformed and articulated with certain ideas and concepts (Japanese hard- boiled style, silence and smallness, the Finland boom) in certain contexts. The case of Japanese reviews of Kaurismäki’s films demonstrates that within the construction of the Other, two types are intertwined: a symbolic exclusion and a symbolic inclusion. At the same time, these types contest each other. The analysis shows that the representational practices mark not only boundaries of differences and similarities but also an ambiguous boundary between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The fluidity of meanings observed in this study illuminates that Finland is a convenient Other that can be interpreted and translated according to audiences’ and consumers’ desires.

The analysis also identifies that Japanese interpretations of Kaurismäki’s films were imported from outside Japan via press sheets and famous film scholars and reviewers, and that they were located in and articulated with other representations and produced their own meanings of films in the context of Japan. Certain topics and themes are selectively chosen to interpret Kaurismäki’s films in the Japanese reviews (e.g., the theme of the silence of ordinary people, but not that of social class). The national and transnational articulation and circulation of representations of Kaurismäki’s films produced the common frameworks used to interpret his films in Japanese reviews. This study illuminates how film reviews in Japanese magazines take part in the construction of otherness, and how the commercial requirements of film reviews influence the way in which the reviews are written.